While data center markets in North America and parts of East Asia are well-established and highly mature, the EMEA region (comprising Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) has historically played the role of underdog. That story is rapidly changing.

Leading the way on sustainability in 2025, Europe set the pace for the adoption of renewable energy for data centers globally. Meanwhile, major power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed across the region, including Spain, Italy, and the FLAPD markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin). These high-profile deals – including Google’s 35MW wind PPA in Spain and Amazon’s 472MW agreement with OX2 in Finland – highlight Europe’s ability to scale responsibly despite ongoing energy and regulatory challenges elsewhere.

Over in the Middle East, DCD forecasts that this data center market alone will surpass 2,000MW of capacity by 2029, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 25 percent. The number of facilities is expected to grow just as quickly, with around 92 percent growth projected over the same period.

Meanwhile, African data center markets are experiencing slower but still significant growth driven by investment inflows, with Nigeria emerging as a standout growth market. In 2022, with a GDP of $500 billion and a population of 211 million, the country operated just 8MW of data center capacity – compared with South Africa’s 180MW.

That said, Nigeria was projected to add 20 percent more internet users within the next three years, resulting in data center capacity sitting at up to 86MW by the end of 2025 – demonstrating the rapid and significant growth in demand for digital infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Rich Farrell, commercial director for Eaton’s data center business across EMEA, shares his perspective on the region’s evolving data center landscape throughout 2025 and beyond. Based in Dubai – now a prominent Tier 2 data center market – Farrell offers insight from the heart of one of EMEA’s most dynamic growth centers.

The headlines of EMEA in 2025

For Farrell, one word defines EMEA in 2025: manic. While industry debates continue around the ‘AI bubble’ and the ongoing supply chain crisis, the fact of the matter is that bubble (if it exists at all) has yet to burst. If anything, it is expanding.

AI has become an inescapable part of mainstream news, and for good reason. Hyperscalers are preparing for an unheard-of surge in AI workloads, forcing suppliers and manufacturers to rethink how data centers are designed, built, operated, and maintained. Even the concept of longevity is being redefined in the AI era.

This momentum is further compounded by investment in cloud infrastructure, with large numbers of next-generation facilities coming online to support the digital economy. As Farrell notes, early 2025 was marked by mega-investments in the billions and even trillions, while the second half of the year saw emerging markets – particularly the Middle East, the Nordics, and Southern Europe – move into the spotlight:

“When you look at emerging markets like the Middle East, you see enormous momentum. Eaton, included, is building a brand new engineering excellence center here in Dubai, and these emerging markets are starting to dominate the headlines for a multitude of reasons.”

Writing the script for 2026

On the horizon, the big move toward 800V DC is a defining shift. For decades, data centers have run almost exclusively on AC power – not because it was optimal, but because it was practical. As modern workloads demand ever-higher performance and efficiency, those inefficiencies are becoming harder to ignore, leading to the re-emergence of DC power at the core of next-generation data center design.

This is not simply a return to DC, but the adoption of a new baseline at high-voltage 800V DC. Extreme density is reshaping system design entirely, making this move a critical enabler – highlighted by Nvidia’s emphasis on these 800V DC architectures for the next generation of AI factories.

In the same breath, liquid cooling has become unavoidable. Higher rack densities inevitably generate more heat, raising temperatures across the data hall and the facility as a whole. The conclusion is undeniably pointing to liquid cooling as the most effective solution currently available.

“We’ve been preparing for this eventuality and are now well ahead in R&D for 800V DC racks and liquid cooling. In 2025, we acquired Boyd Thermal – one of the largest acquisitions in Eaton’s history and among the most significant in the data center industry in recent years. It demonstrates just how committed Eaton is to advancing the cooling market,” says Farrell.

Speaking of the acquisition, Farrell emphasizes that the value of the partnership goes beyond the product itself, extending to the people behind it. Boyd Thermal brings with it established service and project management teams, ensuring continuity of the high standards it has maintained for nearly a century.

For customers, this seamless transition is incredibly important. They don’t need to rebuild relationships or start from scratch, and by combining Eaton and Boyd’s expertise, the partnership effectively creates a one-stop shop for both electrical and thermal infrastructure needs.

The third major conversation shaping 2026, according to Farrell, is grid interactivity. Technologies such as Eaton’s grid-interactive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) enable data centers to temporarily disconnect from the grid. While that in itself sounds counterintuitive, this capability allows operators to support grid stability during peak demand, positioning data centers as responsible participants in the wider energy ecosystem. Farrell explains:

“A big part of the conversation is about being a good grid citizen. Data centers consume huge amounts of power, and in regions like Ireland, for example, that’s a very contentious issue –  power used for data centers could otherwise serve residential or commercial uses. The ability to temporarily take a data center offline helps stabilize the grid and ensures electricity is available where it’s needed most.”

Though grid-interactive UPS technology has existed for over a decade, market readiness has finally caught up, particularly as hyperscalers like Microsoft begin adopting similar approaches.

Ultimately, Farrell argues that growth and responsibility are not mutually exclusive. Data centers will continue to demand vast amounts of power, but by operating more responsibly – drawing energy when it is most available and supporting the grid when it’s under strain – the industry can play its part as a good grid citizen heading into 2026 and beyond.

Applying 2026 methodology to EMEA contexts

The ability to configure data center space to meet both current and future needs is a major advantage, particularly across EMEA, where established markets are pushing the limits of their capabilities and new markets are emerging in compact sites with room to grow.

In 2026, data center operators are increasingly meeting these challenges with more context-specific approaches. After all, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. This is particularly evident in the growing role of modular and prefabricated solutions. The appeal is straightforward – prefabricated data center solutions essentially package critical infrastructure into highly engineered, transportable modules.

“Essentially a very sophisticated shipping container that can be deployed by road or sea,” as Farrell describes it.

The contrast between mature and emerging markets further exemplifies the case. In established European hubs such as the UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, land and power constraints increasingly shape deployment strategies, making modular builds an attractive way to maximize capacity in tight physical limits.

Elsewhere, across Spain, the Nordics, the Middle East, and Africa, space may be more abundant, but power availability and grid stability can vary significantly by location. As Farrell notes:

“Even within the Middle East, energy profiles differ dramatically, with countries like the UAE deriving significant power from nuclear sources linked to huge desalination plants.”

This uneven landscape underscores why modularity is becoming a cornerstone of data center strategy in 2026. With expansion certain but its ultimate scale unclear, operators need infrastructure that can scale up – or scale back – with ease.

Crucially, modular deployments can bring operational capacity online in well under 12 months, offering unmatched speed in a rapidly expanding region.

Powerful solutions

That said, modularity is no longer confined to the physical shell of the data center, but is being applied to the power architecture itself. As the pressures of energy availability, density requirements, and sustainability continue across EMEA, modular power solutions that can be reconfigured as conditions evolve are increasingly valuable.

Battery energy storage systems

The value of battery energy storage systems (BESS) is becoming ever clearer, particularly in markets where grid stability is unreliable. Through these systems, energy can be captured and released in a controlled manner at times when the public grid cannot guarantee uninterrupted release.

“Some of this battery energy storage is now being used to back up generators. Diesel generators are not ideal when you’re trying to hit sustainability targets, so any opportunity to reduce reliance on them is a positive step,” says Farrell, adding:

“Even in markets with historically reliable grids – we saw the massive power outage in Spain in early 2025 – these events can still happen. Certain technologies are not just for markets with unstable power; they also provide peace of mind. A data center going down is the absolute worst thing that can happen to them.”

Sidecar racks

Traditional power architectures are reaching their limits in supporting the rack densities characterized by the upscaled demands of high-performance and AI-driven computing. GPU-driven workloads are consuming power at levels that legacy systems were never built to support.

In legacy data center layouts, the equipment used to power racks is often located at the end of the data hall, far removed from where power is actually consumed. That model becomes increasingly inefficient in environments where racks may require 100kW, or even megawatt-level capacity. Transmitting power across long distances within a facility introduces avoidable inefficiencies and increases the risk of loss before it even reaches the rack.

Sidecar racks address this challenge by relocating power infrastructure directly alongside the compute, as Farrell explains:

“The sidecar is born out of necessity – it’s essentially a dedicated rack housing all your high-density power to support compute. We’re seeing this particularly around Nvidia designs and the sheer amount of power these GPUs consume. By bringing power down to the rack level, we significantly reduce the risk of load and power losses,” Farrell explains.

The concept is straightforward, with a sidecar rack acting as an add-on module attached directly to the main server rack (much like a sidecar on a motorbike). So, in cases like today’s extreme densities that leave no physical space to integrate additional UPS or power equipment within the rack itself, the sidecar provides a practical extension. It sits directly alongside the rack, bringing power directly where it’s needed.

On-site generation

The traditional, lengthy pathways to securing grid capacity, including via PPAs, have become a major constraint in an ecosystem where power availability is one of the most significant bottlenecks in data center expansion, effectively delaying projects long before construction even begins.

“If I identify the right site today and need to source power, by the time I go through all the regulatory and logistical processes, it typically takes between five and eight years to secure sufficient capacity. That delay has a lot of downstream effects on construction and overall project timelines.”

Once again highlighting the advantages of collaboration, Eaton’s partnership with Siemens Energy introduces a modular alternative through on-site gas turbine generation. By producing power directly on-site, operators can bypass the prolonged grid connection timelines and accelerate deployment.

Paired with Eaton’s modular infrastructure, these solutions can be deployed within three to five years – largely driven by turbine lead times – still representing a substantial reduction compared with waiting for grid power alone.

In markets where speed to deployment is critical, this approach provides a practical power pathway without compromising scale or reliability.

Managing subsequent heat

Once energy is secured, the question becomes how to manage the heat that follows.

Where EMEA counts for an enormous and highly varied range of operating environments, many – particularly across Africa and the Middle East – are defined by hot, dry, and water-scarce conditions for much of the year. This inevitably raises questions around the long-term viability of high-density, high-heat racks and the widespread adoption of liquid cooling in such regions.

In water-constrained markets, for example, non-water-based liquid cooling solutions are presenting as a more sustainable option, alongside modular solutions such as rear-door heat exchangers and chilled-water systems that can be deployed selectively to manage rising thermal loads as facilities scale.

At the other end of the spectrum sit regions like the Nordics, where cooler climates unlock opportunities to leverage things like free cooling and advanced air cooling techniques.

This climate diversity further reinforces the value of modularity. From solar integration in Spain to hydroelectric power in Sweden, determining the best fit is not just about technical performance but aligning data center design with the environmental realities of the region in which it operates.

2026 to-watch list

The defining theme for 2026 is not reinvention, but repurposing. Many of the technologies now shaping the data center industry are not necessarily new in themselves, but they are being applied to data centers in innovative and strategic ways.

As the industry looks ahead, Farrell is clear on where momentum across EMEA is set in 2026. Spain, the Nordics, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia stand out as the markets to watch.

Spain, he notes, has rapidly become one of the most active data center development stories in Europe, with new acquisitions and construction stories appearing almost daily.

“These aren’t 20MW projects – we’re talking hundreds of megawatts on single sites. It’s surprising that Spain has been overlooked for so long, given its abundant power, available land, and extensive solar resources. We’re now doubling down, building out our teams to meet the growing demand in Spain.”

Further north, the Nordics are following a similar trajectory. Vast landscapes, stable regulatory environments, and resilient power grids (often with excess capacity) make the region increasingly attractive for hyperscale development.

“In two to three years, we’ll be having the same conversations about the Nordics that we’ve had in Ireland and the Netherlands. The expansion there is going to grow just as quickly.”

Closer to his home, the UAE and Saudi Arabia combine abundant space and power capacity with strong infrastructure investment and international capital, creating markets that are well-positioned for rapid growth.

Taken together, the trajectory of EMEA data centers in 2026 is still somewhat manic, but with the right partner by your side, navigating the chaos becomes entirely manageable.

For more information, please visit eaton.com/datacenters.